Put meninga at 3 and Daley at 6 and they would have torn the Pom’s apart

Regards

King James

Cronk gone now, although I always thought he was the weakest of the 3. I think the other 2 will retire too as only 1 Aussies test next year and neither will still be going by the time the next tourney is happening anyhow.

So you admit you were wrong about Widdop?

Think Slater pretty much said as much in his post match interview that this would be it for him at international level.

Thought widdop was great, heighington when he came on just did the basics but not a danger to the Aussies
Bateman made about 10 yards all game and never looked like breaking a tackle and was stood watching when they had the ball, if he’s a international or a centre then there’s still a chance for me and I’m in my fifties in all it was not taking chances when they came in the end

Bateman made 140 metres

Personally I thought the difference was Smith. He controlled their play very well and pulled our defence all over.

We did everything we could in effort and bravery. Absolutely top marks. I also think we were near 90% in terms of talent. We might have had a little more to give but not much. A little bit more game management and a little more discipline under pressure and we can be top of the World. Both those things can be learned.

I think we are getting a little bit ahead of ourselves here. In the past when we have gone in front or drawn level the aussies have always had what required to kick a gear and make the vital play to win the match. They never had to do that today because we didn't score. Ironically being behind until nearly the end could have been the undoing of the aussies if the Watkins ankle tap had resulted in a try, but i feel we didn't see the best of them due to us never getting on the board. I've seen lots of 'if we had scored that try we would have gone on to win'. That's a massive disrespect to what the aussies are capable of when put under pressure.

I think they'd have buckled had Watkins got away and fed Whitehead. They've tired more noticeably then us in the two games and that is the first time I've seen that in 30 years of watching us play the Aussies.

I've come away from a few Aussies deciders thinking 'we could've won' but today is probably the first time in my 30 years watching us against them where I came away thinking 'we should've won':

I'm stunned by this comment

I could go in to detailed explanations of why this comment is crazy but I won't

Rewatch the match and count the attacks at the Aussie line, they were far more numerous when widdop moved to SO

ok, so its over again, thank feck

i'm over it, next year will be much better with hardly any worthless, pointless internationals, just games of real value, SOO & the NRL

You do realise he won the Dally M award for been the best stand off in the NRL?

This has been gone over time and again but scraping 6ft and 16st Meninga wouldn't be tearing anyone apart. When he played against his opposite number it was like u15 v u11 not anymore.

Does it also signify the end of your worthless and pointless posts?

perhaps

UK Viewing figure for the final was 1.56m, pretty good for Saturday morning that. I imagine the BBC will be happy with that. As a comparison the Wales v South Africa RU fixture yesterday afternoon rated 1.68m (but with a smaller % audience share).

That's pretty decent. Even sky news were pushing it yesterday morning

If that game had been a S.O.O. match, you'd be raving about it for years.

In some ways it's good but it's still depressing that it got less than a 'friendly' international that didn't even involve England.

Hopefully those people that did watch it will want to watch the New Zealand series next year too.

True but lets not also forget that the South Africa Wales game was on prime time afternoon slot and virtually all of Wales watch the rugby.

The fact that Cameron Smith said it was the toughest game he had played in says everything about the intensity of the game. We just needed to execute better. Keep saying it but Watts (a prop with speed, good lines and an offload) and Shaul (off the cuff, unpredictability, pace) could have made a difference in that game

The trifecta:

Whingeing Poms
Soap dodgers
State of origin more important

Now that this is over, there's at least one good thing, the ocker trolls can f*ck right off until next time.

End the thread now, that's all that need be said here.

The loss of SOL was the difference there. We struggled to score when he wasn't on the field throughout the tournament and, against the Aussies, it was clear that we had no one to straighten us up and play at the line. That said, a better, more inventive half back partnership could have gone some way to negating this. That's why I think it's imperative we get Tomkins and Williams playing in the halves for Wigan. The Aussie axis is based on years of playing together at club level. We need to have the same advantage. I just hope Shaun Wane has his England hat on this coming season.

Watts is way too much of a penalty machine for me. Taylor a better option IMO, always seems to be difficult to put down, very rarely drops the ball or gives away a penalty. I'd be earmarking Walmsley to take the starting spot from Graham when he retires, and Taylor to come onto the bench. That's all form-dependent, obviously. Hopefully George Burgess can regain his form and push for a spot.